352 | John W. Warner IV Alice spat out her wine. Wist? Gwafa pointed his weapon point-blank. Merde! You ingrate. Stew stood, lowering his head so as not to hit the ceiling. We are certainly not ofiworlders! Human as you are, well, mostly. Aldebaraners we may be, but we were born here on this nugget just as you were, though two hundred kilometers beneath the surface of Australia of course. But I admit our distant ancestors came from the Taurus star system. And we were born 917 years ago, wheezed Lew, examining an Ace of Spades. Middle age can be so disheartening. Bernie snarled: The famed Gizeh Intelligence. Ill bet it was you boys who sold the SS their new technology secrets. Lew smiled. We are but mere businessmen, dear sir, and only two of many. A rogue group of nasty Pleiadians are also on our payroll, plus a few cutthroat cast-offs from Sirius-B, a shadier star system I know not. Gizeh Incorporated, if you please, said Stew. Oh-h-h-h, many other star nations are also involved in trade and conquest, liberation and rebuilding, always have been over millions of years. Your ancient legends bear this out. You surface humans, or should I say Terrans, an indignant group of mutt-like misfits, have the genetics of twenty-two star nations, hence your unique twelve strands of DNA, though only two are active at present by design. Only seven strands for us, so were quite jealous. Quite an expensive race to manufacture you were, so many patents and contracts, so many differing creators, the ritualistic and royal Anunnaki, well, being so difficult to work with at times. They hate the other parents with zeal, and claim you as their personal legal property. Just think, were distant cousins of a sort, you and us. Were you worth all the trouble? Time will tell. Shafer exclaimed: Twenty-two DNA star nation parents? That means we are galactic genetic royalty. Then its true that Stew slapped his hand as a teacher would to a childs. ‘This.. .©MZer rim of the galaxy may be a miasmic backwater swamp, but many are now taking an interest in you topsiders and our lush, green Earth, the hollow Moon as well. And yet I hear real estate is becoming quite dear up there, and the SS has brokered a sweetheart deal for a cavern facility. But be so advised, there are many others claiming to be us Aldebaraners when they are not. Shabby knock-offs. Poseur confidence men in holographic masks. Non-